With more than three quarters of the United States under mandatory stay at home orders, even grocery shopping is getting more complicated!

“But what about that expensive nutrition degree?” my dad asked as I excitedly rambled about my upcoming yoga teacher training. “I thought you were a dietitian . . . now you want to teach yoga too?” Yes dad, I want to teach yoga too! I’ve been working in the health and wellness industry for the last decade – first as a personal trainer, then as a dietitian, now as both. And over the years I’ve learned that integrating nutrition and physical activity is the first meaningful ste

Carbs: The much-vilified macronutrient that went from being the foundation of the food pyramid to the supposed cause of all our nutrition woes in a few short decades. But wait – you may be asking, “what’s a macronutrient?” so before I get ahead of myself let me give you a little background in nutrition science. There are three macronutrients in our diets: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. These macronutrients provide us with energy (or calories) and we need all three in a heal

2019 is here and there's no shortage of resolution talk flooding the media. But the reality is, most resolutions fail before the end of February . . . leaving us feeling pretty crappy before the year even gets started. So this year I have a few resolutions that are actually worth keeping: Ditch the *Goals*As a health and fitness professional I've been taught, over and over again, that those SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) are everything

As a kid I remember that my dad (who was always very health conscious) really enjoyed nuts but was cautious about eating too many. He said they were high in fat and he was worried about his cholesterol. Fast forward twenty-ish years and I find that many of my clients have lingering concerns about nuts. People seem to have a vague idea that nuts are good for you but they’re hung up on the high fat and calorie content. But as it turns out, more and more research is demonstratin

Have you ever really tracked your daily food intake? I mean weighed or measured every single thing you ate for the day then logged it in a tracking app? If so you know it totally sucks. It can take hours to track a full day of food especially if you have to manually enter each component of your meal. Did you have oatmeal for breakfast? Or did you have oatmeal cooked with skim milk, two tablespoons sliced almonds, two teaspoons flax seed, chopped apple (one eighth an apple to

Of all the non-diet but actually-a-diet diets I’ve reviewed over the last few weeks, this one is by far the easiest for me to write about because it’s the one I did for like ten years. For some people, myself included, this diet means eating “clean” during the week and then basically eating whatever you want over the weekend. Others may choose a few nights every week to incorporate a so-called cheat meal. Either way, these diets are basically the same – eat healthy most of th

One of the most popular trends in dieting over the past few years is intermittent fasting. And let’s be clear hear, this is definitely a diet. Just do an internet search for “The Every Other Day Diet” or “The 16:8 Diet” – diet is right there in the name. While early research has shown weight loss and improved chronic disease risk with intermittent fasting, there is no long-term evidence to suggest that this diet is any more sustainable than any other restrictive diet. A few p

The non-diet trend has given rise to lots of new “lifestyles” that, as it turns out, are just diets in disguise. One of the more frustrating of these actually-a-diet diets is the meal plan. Now before I get carried away let me say that there are absolutely benefits of planning meals in advance. It can be helpful to sit down with your schedule over the weekend and consider which meals are going to work for you in the week ahead. If you have a late meeting on Tuesday, plan a di

The idea of a non-diet approach to nutrition has become pretty trendy in the last few years. Any nutrition professional who’s not an ass-hole probably agrees that extremely restrictive, low calorie diets aren’t the answer. What’s at the heart of this slow shift towards a non-diet approach? Over time we’re beginning to recognize that restrictive diets simply aren’t effective in the long term. And guys, this isn’t just me and a few other nutrition recluses screaming RIOTS NOT D

It only seems fitting to open the new blog with an updated version of my very first post from last year. Enjoy! I'm kicking off the blog by addressing the most common line of questions I get asked as a dietitian: "What's a healthy food I should be eating?" "What's the number one food I should avoid?" "What food is gonna help me lose weight?" Basically what all these questions boil down to is: What's Healthy Anyway?? So here's the answer: Nutrition isn't black and white. “Good

It was on a Sunday evening much like this one almost a year ago that I came home from a meeting with a dear friend, sat down at my computer, and began designing the logo for my long dreamed-of nutrition consulting company. The next day I incorporated with the state of Illinois and Food Wonderful was born. My friend Shana, a former patient of mine, had invited me to join her for lunch and we spent the afternoon discussing how we could promote good nutrition within her church